At 2:05 AM -0700 8/25/00, jim bell wrote:
>Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne just appeared on Politically
>Incorrect.
>
>
>Politically Incorrect, August 25, 2000
>
>Bill Maher: [humorously] I am for a strong military that protects our stuff
>and kills people we don't like.
>
>Sharon Lawrence: You mean heads of state in other countries?
>
>Bill Maher: I am for killing Saddam Hussein
>
>Harry Browne: But the interesting is that it is against the law to kill
>Saddam Hussein, but it is not against the law to kill millions of Iraqi
>citizens who may hate Saddam Hussein as much as we do. I would reverse
>that. [applause]
>
>{Browne continues) If we got in trouble with a foreign country, the first
>thing I would do is to go after the leader. I would put up a reward of a
>billion dollars for the person who could kill that leader. And it would be
>available to Americans to foreigners, to the dictator's wives, to the palace
>guard.
>
>
>[station break; end of my quote]
>
>
>Jim Bell
>Author of "Assassination Politics" essay. (at
><http://www.jya.com/ap.htm>www.jya.com/ap.htm )
Sorry, Jim, but the idea of putting bounties on the heads of foreign
leaders goes back into the mists of history. And, notably, it was
debated during World War II, vis-a-vis putting a bounty on the head
of Hitler.
Predates your stuff, or _my_ 1988 stuff on untraceable contract
assassinations, by a long, long time.
You have every right to claim credit for your popularization of
betting pools for killings, though be sure to remember to give credit
to Jack London for his work early in the 20th century, but you should
be very careful not to claim credit for the general ideas of
bounties, contract killings, and the use of untraceable methods.
--Tim May
--
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
